Date of Award

1-12-2026

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History and American Studies

Department Chair or Program Director

Claudine Ferrell

First Advisor

Nabil Al-Tikriti

Major or Concentration

History

Abstract

The diplomatic power of women in the ‘Great Power’ dynasties of Europe has been passed over in historiography because very often their power rested in their relationships to their male counterparts. Dismissing these women’s diplomatic and political power as “soft power” of the domestic sphere overlooks the fact that the political structure of Europe relied heavily on familial ties. In early modern Europe, the whole continent was a kinship; thus, familial relationships between two dynasties were inherently political. The daughters and mothers of these dynasties discovered that there was permeable access to the European political arena through marriage and motherhood. Marriages between two dynasties, or even two branches of the same dynasty, were arranged to strengthen ties, secure peace, form new alliances, acquire territory, and extend spheres of imperial influence. These women were also charged with maintaining the stability of their new nations by supporting, and sometimes secretly undermining, their husbands for the good of the dynasties. In this way, the dynastic women of early modern and modern Europe were acting as diplomats on behalf of both their country and the empire in which they married. This research will examine four examples of royal women whose marriages were arranged for political gain, highlighting the political and diplomatic capabilities of women in dynastic politics. This research argues that although the diplomatic and political power of dynastic women in early modern Europe relied heavily on their relationships with male counterparts, it does not diminish their impact on the history of European foreign relations.

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